It is important for many patients, particularly critically ill patients, to receive proper nutrition and to begin feeding as soon as possible. Proper nutrition can lead to shorter recovery times and better mortality and morbidity outcomes. Medical devices that are designed to support artificial feeding in patients include various enteral feeding systems. Enteral feeding systems typically supply nutrition to a patient's digestive tract, specifically the stomach, small intestine or jejunum by inserting a tube down a patient's nose or through the stomach wall. Conversely, parental nutrition is supplied intravenously, circumventing the usual digestion process. Enteral nutrition is typically recommended over parenteral nutrition because, if possible, it is important to use the method closest to natural feeding to keep the gut from shutting down.
Once artificial feeding has begun, it is important to assess how well the patient is tolerating the artificial feeding, as well as to determine if the patient is getting adequate nutrition. Many artificially fed patients can become malnourished due to improper amounts of nutrient being provided to the patient. This problem is enhanced in situations where the care giver slows down the feeding rate to prevent vomiting and diarrhea.
Current clinical methods used to monitor the nutritional uptake and status of artificially fed patients include daily blood tests to determine, for instance, albumin, prealbumin, electrolyte, creatine, and blood sugar levels, and 72 hour fecal fat content tests. In addition, bowel movements, urine assessment, and, if the patient is awake, strength and alertness can be observed. These methods involve long time gaps and do not offer real-time information concerning the patient's nutritional uptake to the care giver.
Thus, there is a need for a real-time nutritional uptake monitoring system and method to provide information that a patient is receiving sufficient nutrition. A system and method for informing a care giver whether too little, an ideal amount, or too much is being fed to the patient would be particularly useful.
Monitoring nutritional uptake can also be important in the specific feeding of infants. Parents and other care takers can have a more difficult time determining when an infant child is hungry or is need of feeding. In addition, weight gain and overall health status is the primary method of assessing proper nutrient delivery for breast feed infants. Thus, there is similarly a need for a specific system and method of real-time nutritional uptake monitoring to provide information that an infant is receiving sufficient nutrition.